Iceland May 2017 _ Day 6

DAY 6
Hello Friends,

We began the adventure from Akureyri to a location that had many Turf houses. The place was free to go like many but you could enter the houses by a small price.

From the Turf houses we went straight to Hotel Laugarbakki to leave safely the luggages there. The hotel looked not so comfy from outside but inside was the most luxurious and at a budget price. In fact it was the best one of Iceland overall.

Here is the link. https://www.hotellaugarbakki.is/

Hvammstangi is known for seal viewing but you have to make sure the tide is gone so that the seals goes on the shore and enjoy the sun for a couple of hours until the tide comes back again.

For your information the tide is controlled by the moon’s gravity with earth. There is a website that calculates this tide and tells you which time is best to go see the seals. This information could be asked at that time at the reception which also printed the information for us. Amazing !!

Unfortunately the day was cloudy and rainy and there was a big chance that the seals will not come to shore. Obviously we tried our luck and went on the road trip to Hvítserkur a giant rock formation on the beach. The road was one of the worst we drove in as it was full of potholes. Make sure you go with an SUV as this road goes like that for about 2hrs.

We followed the co-ordinates but we could not see any rock from the road although the sea view was “clearly” seen from above. We drove into a slope down thinking that we are going wrong way but then a sign confirmed that we were at Hvítserkur. Still not seen from the park lot we walked the way into the cloudy rainy evening.

Although no sunshine and no seals, the scene was spectacular and a worthwhile adventure.
As we went back into the car we checked for a hope of food in the vicinity and there was a restaurant Geitafell not so far away. The restaurant is recognized by an old tower and many shellfish on his way in.

Link here: http://geitafell.is/

We entered and there was only a couple eating out. The owner was very friendly and his wife was the chef. The food was great including their desert made of SKYR. He explained that they live there during the summer time and live with their own field cultivations and fisherman catch not far along.

Happy and adventurous instead of going back to the hotel we drove round the coastline for an hour bringing us from where we started and back to the hotel.